Insty66 -
I read that Harrier fatigue was less than normal during Afghanistan, thus extending its fatigue life; see also comment from orca. Possibly due to the nature of the flying not involving as much ‘G’?
The Harriers were expected to be capable of operating until 2020; according to a parliamentary report a senior officer stated in December 2009 that Harrier could be kept flying until at least the end of the next decade. Similar statements were made in the House of Commons claiming that Harriers could be used beyond the planned 2018 removal date.
The early 2010 government plan was to keep both GR4 and Harrier until Typhoon updated with key GR4 capability. House of Lords, Nov. 2010:
“to withdraw them [GR4] as and when we were able to upgrade the Typhoon with a ground support capability, with a full suite of weapons, with Paveway IV, Brimstone or its successor, with Storm Shadow and with a sensor equivalent of the Raptor, which has done so well in the Tornado. That was why, last year, we put more money into the Typhoon enhancement programme. I was hoping to be able to withdraw the Tornados by 2014 or 2015. There would have been a considerable saving there, but we would have continued to have a carrier strike capability right the way through.”
Under this plan GR4 would have been kept until around 2015 or until Typhoon had the key GR4 capability. This implies that until around 2015 there would have been more aircraft available for operations, as Harrier would have been maintained beyond 2010.
Harrier numbers were significant, about 72 were sold to USMC in 2011 (see also orca comment). I don’t know their condition but published figures for 1st April 2010 put the Harrier FAF at 32, down from 52 in 2009. No indication given of the status of non-FAF aircraft. The 40% FAF reduction may have been part of plans to use Harrier mainly for carrier strike.